The HBO mob drama ended eight years ago, but many still debate the epic
final scene
that featured the Journey song playing as Tony Soprano (
James Gandolfini
) sits down for dinner at a diner with his family. When the camera suddenly cuts to black, it raises the question: Did Tony die?

Series creator David Chase analyzed the famous TV moment in a new interview with the Director's Guild magazine
DGA Quarterly
, breaking down why he showed so much of Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) parallel-parking and more. As for the big issue, he didn't offer much in terms of spoilers or an actual answer.

"I said to Gandolfini, the bell rings and you look up. That last shot of Tony ends on 'don't stop,' it's mid-song. I'm not going to go into [if that's Tony's POV]. I thought the possibility would go through a lot of people's minds or maybe everybody's mind that he was killed. He might have gotten shot three years ago in that situation. But he didn't. Whether this is the end here, or not, it's going to come at some point for the rest of us. Hopefully we're not going to get shot by some rival gang mob or anything like that. I'm not saying that [happened]. But obviously he stood more of a chance of getting shot by a rival gang mob than you or I do because he put himself in that situation. All I know is the end is coming for all of us."

According to
HitFix
, Chase's new comments are the most he's ever offered in terms of an explanation: "...What he says suggests a kind of Schrodinger's Tony: either Tony is dead at the end of the scene, or he isn't, but it doesn't matter anyway, because death comes for us all."

Chase admits he expected the ending to be "jarring," but not as much as it was. Luckily, he offered an optimistic notes to fans.

"... the biggest feeling I was going for, honestly, was don't stop believing. It was very simple and much more on the nose than people think. That's what I wanted people to believe. That life ends and death comes, but don't stop believing. There are attachments we make in life, even though it's all going to come to an end, that are worth so much, and we're so lucky to have been able to experience them. Life is short. Either it ends here for Tony or some other time. But in spite of that, it's really worth it. So don't stop believing."